ENTERTAINMENTS

Southland Times, Issue 25343, 23 July 1935, Page 12

ENTERTAINMENTS

MAJECTIC THEATRE »“THE PAINTED VEIL” The incomparable Greta Garbo is costarred with the brilliant English actor, Herbert Marshall, in “The Painted Veil,” which was shown to a crowded house at the Majestic last evening. This film version of W. Somerset Maugham’s gripping novel will be screened for the last time to-day. In this production Greta Garbo, in distinct contrast to her role in “Queen Christina,” returns once more to a modern characterization, and she is responsible for the most dramatic performance of her career. The story revolves around the eternal triangle—a husband devoted to duty; a lonely, discontented wife, and the inevitable “other man.” Katrine, a beautiful Austrian girl, marries Kane, an English doctor, whom she has known from childhood, and accompanies him to China where he is interested in research work which involves long absences from home. Jack Townshend, a Government official is attracted by Katrine, and it is not long before _ a hectic love affair develops. Kane discovers the liaison, and to bring matters to a head, tells Townsheqd that he will make a terrible scandal unless he divorces his wife and marries Katrine. Townshend, of course, hesitates, as it means the end of his official career. Kane then offers Katrine the alternative of accompanying him to the hinterland, where cholera is raging, and she, heartbroken at Townshend’s defection, consents. Onoe up country, however, and seeing her husband’s selfless labour and the tenderness shown towards his helpless patients, Katrine realizes the fact that it was just loneliness and glamour that threw her into the arms of Townshend, and out of their mutual sufferings and work together for the good of humanity she and the doctor come to the realization of their deep love and need for each other. Greta Garbo, as Katrine, is once more cast in a role which fits her personality, and which gives her the opportunity of running tbe gamut of emotions from girlish gaiety, feverish infatuation, and the tragedy of a woman who discovers she has risked and nearly lost all, to the peace and haven of an abiding love. Herbert Marshall is quite at home in the role of the doctor; as a typical Englishman whose emotions are never in evidence, he has no need to act—he can be just himself, and he makes a good job of it. George Brent is sufficiently caddish as the debonair Townshend, and gives a clever portrayal of another type of Englishman known only too well in divers corners of the world. Jean Hersholt, Warner Oland, Soo Yong, and Forrester Harvey are all excellent in supporting roles, the latter in particular supplying a welcome comedy relief. In the first part of the programme there is an excellent British newsreel and a Thelma Tod-Patsy Kelly comedy. A coloured cartoon “The Old Pensioner,” which in a most entertaining way depicts the trials of the pioneers with the turbulent Indians, rounds off an outstanding programme. There will be a matinee this afternoon. CIVIC THEATRE. “CHARLIE CHAN IN PARIS.” The last screen appearance of that sagacious Oriental, Charlie Chan, takes place to-night at the Civic Theatre when Fox Film’s newest vehicle for the inimitable Warner Oland, “Charlie Chan in Paris,” finishes an engagement there. This time Chan journeys to France on a secret mission for a British banking house. Before he leaves Paris he has not only tracked down a gang of forgers, but has plunged into the dangerous shadows of his most baffling mystery’. A phantom killer has terrorized the gayest city in the world —and it is Charlie Chan who captures him red-handed, following two of the most hideous killings in Parisian annals. In this, the seventh of the famed Chan series. Fox has turned out an ingenious and thrill-packed picture. Moving swiftly from episode to episode, “Charlie Chan in Paris” builds to an astonishing climax which even the most hardened mystery fans will have failed to foresee. For sheer suspense and ingenuity, the newest of the Charlie Chan screen stories tops all its predecessors; and Oland once more registers heavily in his most celebrated role. There is no part which suits this remarkable actor quite so well as does thatsof Charlie Chan. Wily, subtle, yet kindly and enormously human, the characterization belongs among the notable screen portraits of all time. In “Charlie Chan in Paris,” Oland has distinguished support. Mary Brian is the heroine of the story, with Thomas Beck appearing opposite her. Other well-known players who have important assignments are Erik Rhodes, John Miljan, Minor Watson, Henry Kolker, Dorothy Appleby, Ruth Peterson and Murray Kinnell. “GRAND OLD GIRL” AND “RED MORNING.” A varied double-feature programme will be given its first showing at the Civic Theatre to-morrow. Those who revere the memory of some school teacher who has helped them on the way to success will be particularly interested in the new May Robson starring feature, “Grand Old Girl,” which is said to pay a striking tribute to the teaching profession. With Miss Robson in the role of an elderly high school principal, the story centres about a theme of unselfish devotion to duty and gallant courage. Knowing that to do so may cost her both her job and her retirement pension, the aged principal conducts a spirited one-woman campaign to rid the town of a secret drinking and gambling place which threatens the moral welfare of her students. This struggle, which has its highly amusing aspects as well as its serious side, builds to a highly dramatic and poignant climax, featured by the appearance of the President of the United States to pay a tribute to the teacher of his youth. Hostile headhunters, villainous seamen, pestilence and fever are among the tropical hazards which lead to the exciting sequences in “Red Morning,” which will be the other feature. Steffi Duna, Regis Toomey and Raymond Hatton head the cast. Steffi Duna, as second mate of her father’s boat, is drawn into dangerous conflict with a treacherous crew, which scuttles the ship. Her lover, portrayed by Toomey, enters the scuffle, and together they experience many thrilling adventures. The background of “Red Morning” was filmed at the scenes of the story—New Guinea and the Fiji Islands. The nlans will be found at the theatre and Begg’s. THE REGENT. FANNIE HURSTS “IMITATION OF LIFE.” ENGROSSING AND PROFOUNDLY MOVING.

The hand of the famous and popular authoress, Fannie Hurst, is imprinted on every foot of “Imitation of Life,” the Universal production which has so stirred audiences at the Regent during its all too short season. It is a romantic and emotional drama on an ambitious scale, capably acted and convincingly directed, and makes an immediate appeal to women picturegoers. The story has two or three closely-interwoven themes, covering many years in the lives of two women—one white and one

coloured—and their daughters. The film is much longer than the average, lasting about an hour and three-quar-ters, but it is richly varied entertainment. The main theme, and the one containing most dramatic intensity, is that of the colour-bar in America, and the tragedy of a negro woman’s daughter, who, by a freak of Nature, is almost white. The heroine, played by Claudette Colbert, is typical Fannie Hurst young woman—a widow with a baby, who is so capable that she is able to meet hard business men on their own ground, start a business without capital, and rear her daughter with 100 per cent, efficiency. She engages as servant a negro woman with a daughter, and the story goes on to tell of their success with a new kind of pancake, made to the coloured mammy’s recipe, and of the starting of the vast “Aunt Delilah Pancake Corporation.” Parallel with this runs the theme of Aunt Delilah’s daughter, who is almost white and ashamed of her negro parentage. But her secret is always being discovered and she is despised by whites and blacks alike. Side by side also with the colour-bar theme runs yet another problem of a different and not unfamiliar kind. Claudette Colbert falls in love with a scientist (Warren William) and so does her grown-up daughter (Rochelle Hudson). The ultimate solution of this problem is as intellectually unsatisfactory as the answer to the colour-bar question, but that hardly interferes with appreciation of the emotional entertainment contained in the film. A newsreel, a travelogue, and a clever coloured cartoon are on the supporting programme, the coloured cartoon being particularly good. THE REGENT—TO-MORROW. “THE FIREBIRD.” MYSTERY AND MOTHER LOV® “The Firebird,” a strange and fascinating romance set in the background of Austria’s gay capital, comes to the Regent Theatre to-morrow with a four star cast, including Verree Teasdale, Ricardo Cortez, Lionel Atwill and Anita Louise. The four form a quartet, who together with several others, are involved in a most unusual clandestine romance and a baffling murder mystery. Miss Teasdale and Miss Louise are seen in the roles of mother and daughter with Atwill as the husband and father, and Cortez the menacing, although magnetic figure, who threatens to destroy the aristocratic household. Tlie theme, based on Lajos Zilahy’s play and Gilbert Miller’s sensational Broadway production, deals with the fatal fascination of a young girl for a popular but unscrupulous actor which ultimately results in a baffling murder. Several persons are suspected of the crime and two separate women confess to it. The police finally manage to untangle the intricately woven threads of crime in a strange and smashing climax, which brings scandal to a great diplomat’s family. Others in the cast include C. Aubrey Smith, Dorothy Tree, Helen Trenholme, Hobart Cavanaugh, Robert Barrat, Hal K. Dawson, Russell Hicks, Spencer Charters and Etienne Girardot. The supporting programme includes a colourtone revue, “Morocco Lights,” which is said to be a real gem.